In the chaos of the battlefield, it was sometimes hard to tell friend and foe apart, the enemy you were fighting could change at any time, every angle could potentially be exposed at any given time, which was why most livings were sticking together as closely as possible.
The biggest problem wasn't that every single undead was a threat that could end your life in a single, well-placed blow, or the sheer amount of enemies aiming to slay you, or even the ridiculous amount of diversity in the type of combatants one could encounter on the battlefield.
When it came down to it, the most pressing issue the defenders of the realm were facing right now was a simple one, their enemy was too orderly, every and all undeads seemed to always know where there allies and enemies were at all times, without needing a word, they could coordinate with another undead that they couldn't even see to launch devastating pincer attacks, indeed, when two army clashed, things were uncertain, the one with far less soldiers could sometimes emerge on top, natural hazard could throw things into disarray, or sheer, dumb luck could get in the way of an easy victory, but in the end, strategy and properly trained soldiers were what made the difference.
Milo was only lasting and managing to defeat undeads because he simply was powerful enough to do so, but for everyone else facing the stalwart frontline of the undead, they needed to be careful, few had defences powerful enough to just shrug off direct hits after direct hits, usually, if someone was struck by an attack head-on, they would either die or be too gravely wounded to continue fighting.
Injuries, even the most grievous ones, could be healed rapidly by Minli and sun worshippers, but the healers could not be everywhere, and they certainly weren't allowed anywhere near the frontline, so the wounded had to be taken out of the combat zone and dragged away.
On the other hand, the undeads seemed to hold no such weakness, the rank and file soldiers were rather tough nut to crack as even the lowest caste of the vanguard had been trained like elites and furnished with great equipment, but the worse was that some undeads could recover damage rapidly, it sounded wrong for corpses to have regenerative abilities, and yet, it looked like almost all elites actually had that capability.
Not to mention the undead healers that were hiding amongst the masses, they casted their spells and sent their mana stealthily and rapidly, never giving away their positions.
So although the livings had managed to bring the advance of the undeads to a stop, things were not yet looking sunny.
Antieeld had joined the frontline, as thanks to her talent in leadership, she had been managed to come up with multiple spells that could boost a large number of people at once, focusing, she used mana to float up just a little bit to get a wider view of the battlefield, but only for a short instant as she was instantly targeted by ranged attacks.
But in that time, she spotted Milo fighting against an undead that was clearly fighting like a Tochian warrior, the sheathed stance battle art was basically synonymous with them, she wasn't too worried for Milo though, Antieeld knew that he was tougher than pretty much anyone else by a large margin, case in point, even after taking the full brunt of a powerful battle art right to the face and chest, he didn't even have a bruise.
Antieeld's ability to call upon the fighting spirit of past warriors was powerful indeed, and didn't have much in the way of actual limitations, but the spirits had the memories of whomst they had once belonged to, they were fully sapient beings that could operate on their own, so although it was possible for her to forcefully summon countless numbers of them by without requiring their consent, she treated them with the respect they were due, and always made sure to convince them to join the fight.
In that instant, as she focused, Antieeld could feel the collective will to fight of many warriors and soldiers, witnessing the Emerald Realm stand up to the undead, the incalculable number of brave men and women who had died whilst defending their countries during the invasion of Viridis felt their blood boil.
Many of them used to be too terrified to pick up their weapons again, which was understandable, but that fear was nearly completely gone now.
There wasn't even a need for Antieeld to say anything to convince them, she merely focused and expanded mana to manifest them, and in just a few mere seconds, a tide of summoned spirits went right through the livings, passing through them like ghosts only to slam right into the undeads.
Most of the soldiers and warriors summoned were far from strong, many might not even be able to take on a single footsoldier of the undead vanguard in a one-on-one fight, but this was not a duel, this was a war, and it was the might of the collective that prevailed, struck by combined strength of countless, the undeads were forced to take multiple step backs as they were drowned in the spiritual wave.
Fighting spirits marched over the undead to reach further into the lines, causing great disarray, every second, spirits were defeated, but also summoned by Antieeld, who was feeling the strain of using so much mana creeping up on her, especially as more formidable warriors emerged.
Especially when past death hunters joined the fray alongside the ones that still lived.
"Gelter, you can leave my side and go fight" said Antieeld, the noble knight nodded, bowed and leapt upward.
Antieeld left the finer decision making up to him, she already knew that he was plenty capable.
Rubbing her face, she noticed blood.
The commandant had not yet gone over the limit for mana usage.
'They can reach me from there?'
In the meantime, Milo tackled a knight in spiked armour, uncaring for the pointy bits, and crushed the undead into a bear hug, popping the corpse in half.
Milo had carved a path through the undeads, but it felt like a drop in the ocean, and it was becoming increasingly obvious that they were trying to tire him out, and were testing him, they had already noticed that Loimosfire and the black blood was more efficient at draining away his golden mana, so most of the undeads that stepped forward to strike him were those with the ability to wield them.
Up until two swift undeads showed up, both looked a bit like mages, one garbed in black, the other in white.
The former casted a spell that surrounded Milo in absolute darkness for a split second, but then, the latter of the two undeads casted his own spell, and the dark was suddenly turned to a blinding radiance, completely blinding Milo.
Before he could even realise what was going on, something hit him to the ground and attacks began to rain down on him as he had no idea what was happening, he tried to expand his mana to sense his surroundings, but somehow, that was also blinded.
As black blood and Loimosfire poured down upon him, the golden mana was rapidly expanded.